Dormition - Ascension of St. Mary

On the Dormition and Ascension of St. Mary the Mother of God

The Oriental Orthodox Churches name the dormition of the God-bearer as "The Festival of the Ascension of St. Mary," a symbol of the life and pilgrimage of the Church itself.
This Marian Feast is an invitation for all of us to encounter Christ, to embrace His life in the Spirit, to become most Christ-like: to become "divinized in Christ" through all the gifts of the Spirit given to the Church in Pentecost.

May the joy of the Feast and its promise in Christ be upon you,
Fr. Michael Durka +


Other Links to the Feast:

Dormition Icon and text, University of Balamand, Lebanon

Early Fathers on the Feast of the Dormition and Ascension

John the Theologian: The Dormition of the Holy Theotokos
Melito of Sardis: The Passing of Blessed Mary
Joseph of Arimathea: The Passing of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Cyril of Jerusalem: Homily on the Dormition
Evodius of Rome: Homily on the Dormition
Theodosius of Alexandria: Homily on the Dormition
John of Damascus: Homilies on the Dormition of the Virgin

Coptic image of The Dormition:

Scroll down for scene inside "The Church of the Holy Virgin" at Syrian Monastery, Egypt.
EXCERPT: The mid-seventh century brought the Arab conquest and Islam to Egypt, but this did little to stop the flow of Christian art in Egypt. Instead, Muslim incursion into Egypt saw a blossoming of... iconographic programs, often covering more ancient works.
This was no more true than in the monasteries of the

Wadi Natrun.

The Wadi and its importance to Coptic Christians dates back to the 4th century AD with the arrival of St. Macarius the Great ~
Read more:

The Monastery of St. Macarius (Deir Abu Magar)

Iconographic Painting of "the Dormition" by el Greco, discovered in 1983